Apex

On the Troll Wall in Norway, the bold ascent of Sasha and Tommy is cut short by a brutal turn of weather. A storm roars in as they push toward the summit, and a falling boulder strikes Tommy, pinning him and dragging Sasha toward the precipice. The moment forces a grim choice: she must sever the rope to save herself, and Tommy tumbles to a lethal fate below, his death unfolding against a backdrop of wind and stone.

Five months pass, and the landscape shifts from icy peaks to sunlit wilderness in Wandarra National Park, Australia. Grief weighs heavily on Sasha as she drives alone with Tommy’s lucky compass clutched in her hand. A ranger warns her about a string of disappearances in the area, and her resolve is tested by hostile hunters at a service station. Enter Ben, a local supplier of jerky who steps in with practical help and directions to a secluded campsite. That night, the threat returns in the form of the hunters, and Sasha seeks refuge inside her car until they drift away.

The following day, Sasha faces the river’s churn and rapids, attempting to press on with drive and discipline. Yet misfortune follows: her bag vanishes, and she discovers Ben’s camp nearby. He reveals that he has been watching her, and she realizes he may have stolen her belongings. He returns her backpack but brandishes a crossbow and a boombox, giving her a chilling ultimatum—she has until the end of one song to run or face his pursuit.

Desperate, she plunges back into the river, losing her kayak in the furious current. A family’s voices echo in the water, but they turn out to be a planted lure, a trap set by Ben who shoots to force her deeper into the wilderness. After ducking into a ravine, Sasha attempts to steal Ben’s canoe but becomes ensnared in a bear trap and captured. The hunter’s questions about Tommy’s death soon follow as Ben reveals a chilling wider interest in her story.

In a hidden cave, Ben chains Sasha, surrounded by the bodies and remnants of other disappearances. He discloses that he is a ritualistic cannibal who converts his victims into jerky, even claiming to have fed on his own mother. In a desperate bid to escape, Sasha bites off one of his ears and flees, but he pursues relentlessly, chasing her toward a waterfall. A brutal exchange ends with Sasha knocking him down, fracturing his leg, and leaving him groping in the distance as she fights to survive.

Trapped in a desolate canyon, Sasha confesses a sense of guilt over Tommy’s death, and a wary, uneasy plan forms: they will attempt a tandem climb out. As the two begin ascending, Ben’s grim calculation persists—he loosens the rope but ties himself to her climbing harness, threatening to yank her off the cliff if she tries to escape. Sasha engineers a cunning escape, devising a Prusik knot that could help Ben pull himself up, then seizes her chance to break free from the harness and push him to a fatal fall. He plummets while she continues the ascent, now unburdened by gear, fighting through exhaustion toward safety.

A passer-by spots her and brings help, and the ranger station is finally alerted. Authorities uncover dozens of bodies from Ben’s hideout, a grim tally that underscores the danger she endured. Reaching a tranquil beach, Sasha pays a final, quiet tribute to Tommy by casting his compass into the ocean, a symbolic release of the past as she steps toward a fragile, cautious future.